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We are taking off in a few hours for the 100 mile drive to pick up the new gen III. I hope to survive :eek:without bloodshed! (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19122&page=4) (read post 39)

Immediately we will be transferring luggage from the gen II into the gen III for a 700+ mile drive to Charlottesville, VA. By the time we return home next Thursday, we should have 2000+ miles on it.

It will be ScangaugeII equipped when we leave.
There is a gas station about 2 blocks from the dealership and that is the first stop to use the Accugauge for adjustment.

Added photo of car:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/The_surprise.JPG

Cool, looking forward to your story upon return. Have fun!

Hi Mike;

I can't wait to read what you think of it. I will take me a while until I can get my hands on one... so whatever impressions you can relay to us on your newest will always be much appreciated. :D


Cheers;

MSantos

Wow is about all I can say right now. Here is a teaser pic. No extreme measures were taken to get this mileage. 49 mph is the trip average, but that includes over 15 minutes of sitting and playing with the gadgetry. I had 62.2 until it got dark and I left a 2 lane 55 mph speed limit and got on I-64 east with a 70 mph speed limit. I hit 70 a couple times on glides down some of the hills near Louisville, KY. Most of the 130 miles on the interstate were at 55 to 65 mph. The balance on the 2 lane was 50 to 55 mph and several stop lights and signs in small towns.
The ECO button acts like the ECO in the Insight II. MPG FLYS!! The power button feels like shooting nitros in it. Steady state with the foot in ECO, punch the power button and it takes off.

Just stopped at a hotel for some rest. I will post more as I have more time, but my overall impression is that once it is broke in, it will be "sweet!" It had 5 miles on it when we took off.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/622/VA_leg_1.JPG

Very encouraging, Mike! I look forward to your updates. :)

Here is a pic of the final for the trip.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/622/Trip_final_5-30.JPG

I forgot and left the receipt out in the car for the final manual calculation. I filled up as soon as we got to town. I want to see how it does around town. The car is still tight and so are the tires. After it gets 3000 to 5000 miles on it, a drive will be even more interesting.
It only has 5 more miles on it than what the trip shows in the pic.

Hi Mike

Since you had a Scangauge with you, did you try locking it into the IGN 13-14 to SHM it?

A 60 MPG average is awesome. Just for giggles, what pressure were the tires set for? ;)

I was waiting for the pressure question. I couldn't believe it, but the tires were at 41/38 psi when I stopped at a gas station about 500 feet from the dealership. I drove down with 51/50psi in the Yokohama Avis tires.

I only used the Scangauge for rpm occasionally. I hope somebody gets the x-gauges figured out for the 2010 soon. I looked at ig some, but in the eco mode, it's a different ballgame. Also, my wife was awake the whole trip. She started freaking out when I was holding the Scangauge and looking at it. I haven't found a good place to set the Scangauge yet.

Another thing I noticed when I left the hotel to run to Walmart. The coolant temp was 80°. when I stopped at the first light, it autostopped. I checked the Scangauge and the temp was 114°. This tank will be all around Charlottesville over the next few days, so the FCD will tell the story as my wife will be driving it as well. I'm picking up a Toyota Tundra shortly to start moving furniture.

Great Mike, Glad you are getting some good info for us.

This thing continues to surprise me. Today it dropped into SHM at 41. I couldn't believe it and tried it again at 43 mpg. Scangauge showed 0 rpm on the ice. The fcd showed the electric kick in when I feathered the throttle. I'm going to try to increase the speed and see the max tomorrow.

We got Blizzard Pearl with the Bisque interior (leather) but I have a complaint.

The carpet in the cargo area and cargo cover are misty grey. Even the carpet on the back of the seats. It is VERY obvious when the rear seats are flipped down.

I looked at another car at the dealer with bisque interior with cloth and it had misty grey in the cargo also. I'm calling Toyota today to see what is up with this.

You're making me hungry for lobster bisque.

We made it home late last night for a 6 day total of 1740 miles. It was a great way to put the new Prius to the test. I'm going to put the whole trip notes together in an article in the next day or so, but it revealed many surprises.

I called Jud last night to compare notes on the elusive warp stealth and mentioned to him something really interesting that I discovered. Toyota clearly stated that every panel on the exterior had been redesigned to make the Prius the most aerodynamic auto produced. As a testimony to that, two things I noted on the trip related to that fact:

1- The rake of the windshield with the airflow made it impossible to get bug splatters on the windshield. It was neat to see bugs zooming at the window and get whisked up and over the car with leaving at most, a small skid mark.

2-Coming home through Virginia, we hit a torrential thunderstorm. I was running 60 to 65 and had to slow slightly due to limited visibility. I had Rain-X'd the front, side, rear, sunroof, and solar panel glass the day before, but the rear hatch DID NOT HAVE A DROP of water on it. The air foil was insulating the hatch glass from the water. It was totally dry!

I checked this in my 06 today. Once i got on the highway i wiped the rear windshield and the whole trip while it was pouring and i was going about 50-60 mph not a single drop appeared on the rear windshield.

I got in the 10 this morning to move it and was pleasantly surprised. This is a definite improvement for my wife that only looks at the road ahead and the speedometer. The best I have seen from her in a weeks worth of driving in the genII was 47.6mpg. This type of weather is usually around 46 mpg for her.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/622/gina_wk_1.jpg